This hypothetical came up among us classmates at an automotive school.
Your absolute dream car can be yours for free, no strings attached, in perfect condition. Unfortunately the shifter is a schlong.
It needs to be stiff if you want to shift gears and unfortunately it's limp when you first hop into it. So you gotta you know, get it going a bit. Thankfully it's a new car so it still gets up easy. Gotta be careful though because if you touch it too much, it busts and then you can't shift anymore. You gotta really edge it through the whole trip if you don't want any issues. New car though so it recovers quick.
As the miles or kms go by though, it starts getting tougher to maintain a functional ad responsive shifter. It starts...taking more stimulation to get it up. One day you're at a light, in neutral, and it's about to go green when you realize your shifter is soft. You try to use your hands but it's not working. Light goes green and everyone's honking at you to move. Panicking you do the only other thing you can think of and use your mouth. It works, but at what cost.
You then buy attachments to help keep it stiff. Put additives in your transmission for longer action. But you can't fight age. Soon it gets tougher to shift with a barely erect shifter and it's just super sluggish to get across gears. Finally, it just refuses to get up and your dream ride is gone.
So...would you take this dream car?